Willis Regier, Director
Favorite Book: THE 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS, translated by Malcolm C. Lyons and Ursula Lyons. Penguin 2008, three volumes. I had always wanted to read the NIGHTS straight through instead of at random as I had in the past. This new translation, the first “complete” translation since 1885, gave me the excuse I needed. I planned to read the 1001 NIGHTS over the winter but couldn’t restrain myself and finished them in late October. They were so unlike what I remembered that they were virtually new, and much more adult than I supposed. It’s no wonder they’ve been such a success all these years: in addition to buried treasure and powerful genies, the NIGHTS have explicit sex, lots of violence, wine-drinking Muslims who drug their guests, cruel Christian kings, women assassins, a gay poet, a series of the most beautiful women in the world, Aladdin’s lamp, Sinbad’s shipwrecks, and the remarkable ring of King Solomon. Some stories, sorry to say, were only good for putting me to sleep, but for the most part the collection was by turns charming, fascinating, and alarming. Runner-up: Jan Potocki’s THE MANUSCRIPT FOUND AT SARAGOSSA.Favorite CD: Pop: MONSTERS OF FOLK was tops, with stiff competition from Bat for Lashes and the Antlers. Classical: “The Early Scriabin,” performed by Stephen Coombs. Favorite Movie: WATCHMEN. It has two characters that rise to the level of myth–Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan–and several extraordinary scenes. The final fight was a cliché but the finale ended the movie appropriately, with the not-so-good good guys not-so-good all the way to the end. Favorite TV Show: DEXTER, despite some stunning plot holes, this show manages to keep up the tension with new twists rather than new versions of old ones, and has a long story arc that keeps me curious. Favorite live performance, theater/music/comedy/etc.: none, sorry to say

Tamara Shidlauski, Production CoordinatorFavorite Book: The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (if you liked season 5 of Lost, you’ll like this book)Favorite Singles: “Return of White Rabbit” – Ash, “Gold Guns Girls” – Metric, “New Bones” – So Many DynamosFavorite Movie: District 9Favorite TV Shows: Fringe, Dollhouse, Supernatural, LostFavorite Board Game to Play with the Gang: Apples to ApplesFavorite Mexican Restaurant on Springfield: Mas Amigos

Lisa Savage, Journals Production Editor
Favorite Book: Dave Eggers, Zeitoun; Jonathan Lethem, Chronic CityFavorite CD: 500 Days of Summer soundtrackFavorite Movie: Up (because I haven’t seen An Education, A Serious Man, or Up in the Air)Favorite TV Show: Top Chef, 30 Rock, The Office, Community, Mad Men, The Daily ShowFavorite TV Show that will end as of 2009: Flight of the Conchords (sob!)Favorite quote from this season of The Office: “‘R’ is among the most menacing of sounds. That’s why they call it murder, not muckduck.”Favorite live performance, theater/music/comedy/etc.: Kathy Griffin at The Chicago Theater; Flight of the Conchords at The Fox Theater; Neko Case at The Canopy Club.Favorite reason to never watch golf again: Oh wait, I don’t need a reason!

Angela Burton, Assistant Managing EditorFavorite Book: Diane Setterfield – The Thirteenth Tale (last year’s suggestion from Tamara); Martha Cooley – The Archivist (old, I know, but I read it in 2009)Favorite CD: Regina Spektor – Far; Sonic Youth – The Eternal (nice to hear their discordant music again)Favorite Movie: A Christmas Tale; The Watchmen (I know a lot people hated it, but I loved the look of it, the skewed history, the fact that the filmmakers added Lee Iacocca to the movie and didn’t even try to explain who he was to the young demographic, and Jackie Earle Haley’s wonderful performance.)Favorite TV Show: The Daily Show; Dexter; The Big Bang TheoryFavorite live performance, theater/music/comedy/etc.: The Pose or Play Reunion at the High Dive, Champaign, ILMy favorite new media-related thing this year: Netflix streaming on XBox 360. Netflix added thousands of foreign and independent films to their instant streaming service, and the quality of the download is now as good as DVD. Sunday is now my official foreign film night.